Pitching key for American Legion state champion East Longmeadow

How do you stop a baseball team that had scored 57 runs in its previous five games?

Good pitching.

Dave Roback East Longmeadow American Legion pitcher Steve Moyers aims for the plate in a game at Westfield on July 19.

How do you win a state championship?

Good pitching.

That’s what East Longmeadow Post 293 received from reliable hurler Steve Moyers Wednesday night in an 11-3 triumph over Milton Post 35 that completed a doubleheader sweep for the 2010 Massachusetts state American Legion baseball tournament title at Campanelli Stadium in Brockton.

Moyers won two games in the tournament. He faced Milton Wednesday on two day’s rest.

“He wanted the ball,” coach Jason Shea said. “He has a lot of heart and desire.”

Why wouldn’t Shea give it to him? Moyers is an innings-eating lefthander who thrives on work and after Matt O’Neil went the distance in the first game, a 12-9 victory, Moyers followed with another complete nine-inning game.

In two high school seasons, the incoming junior at East Longmeadow has lost only one game. That was to Amherst in the Western Massachusetts Division I final.

“Steve Moyers always shuts people down,” catcher Kyle DiFranco said.

In many ways, Moyers is a throwback. He is blessed with an arm that enables him to throw a lot of pitches.

“This was the biggest win of my career and definitely the most fun,” Moyers said. “We came out to win and we played with a lot of heart. We play to win.”

That’s what Post 293 will set out to do when it plays in the Northeast Regional Aug. 5-9 at Palmer Field in Middletown, Conn. If East Longmeadow prevails, it would become the first team from Western Mass. to reach the American Legion World Series in 32 years.

No matter what happens in Middletown, East Longmeadow’s place in history in secure. No Western Mass. team had won a state championship since East Springfield Post 420 did it in 1978. That year, it went to the American Legion World Series in Yakima, Wash.

This year’s world series also happens to be in Washington state. It will be played in Spokane, the final year it will be staged in a rotating site. Next year, it moves to its permanent site in Shelby, N.C., complete with a long-awaited TV contract.

East Longmeadow last won a state title in 1964. That team was led by Frank Capuano.

This year’s team, which went 5-1 in the state tournament, would have been hard pressed to name a tournament MVP. Post 293 got big hits from throughout its lineup, especially from the heart of the order. DiFranco, Frank Calabrese, Matt O’Neil and James Christensen keyed the sweep of Milton that gave East Longmeadow the title.

“This is one of the best teams I’ve ever played on,” DiFranco said. “Now we have an even bigger challenge.”